The shooting death of Pinson native and former Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Carlos Gray at his east Jefferson County home Monday night may have led to a retaliatory kidnapping early Tuesday.

Gray, 25, was found shot to death at his Pinson home at 9:56 p.m., according to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office. Sheriff's deputies and Center Point Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the house on Balboa Terrace after a friend found Gray wounded and unresponsive.

Chief Deputy Randy Christian said Gray's girlfriend reported she last saw him about an hour earlier when she left the home. When she returned she discovered his body.

When deputies arrived on scene, they checked the home for additional victims or suspects. While clearing the house deputies reported seeing marijuana, digital scales, a Glock handgun with an extended magazine and an AK-47 rifle with a large capacity magazine all in plain view.

On Tuesday morning, Christian said, a group of men kidnapped two men at gunpoint at an eastern-area complex. At about 11 a.m., deputies were called to a convenience store in the 2100 block of Old Springville Road to investigate a report of a kidnapping.

An adult male victim reported that he and another man had been kidnapped at gunpoint by five men in the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. Three of the suspects were in a white Chevrolet Avalanche and the other two were in an Infinity sedan.

Once the suspects forced them into the Avalanche, they drove north on Old Springville Road with the Infinity following behind. The reporting victim was able to escape near the convenience store and call for help.

A description of the suspect vehicles was broadcast to nearby deputies. The Infinity was located and stopped near the 1900 block of Old Springville Road. The two adult male occupants were taken into custody and are being questioned by detectives.

The white Avalanche with the second victim continued north on Old Springville Road and has not yet been located.

"We have a long way to go but we will get to the bottom of it,'' Christian said. "At the end of the day, it will likely all be over drugs and drug money."

Court records show Gray pleaded guilty in August 2017 to possession of marijuana for something other than person use. He received a 12-month suspended sentence in that case.

Gray graduated from Pinson Valley High High School and went on to play at North Carolina State after a junior college stint. He started one year in college and then left after his junior year as an early entry in the 2014 NFL draft. Thought he wasn't drafted, published reports say he signed a three-year $1.5 million contract with the Green Bay Packers as a free agent in 2014.

Carlos Gray signed with the Packers in 2014.

He was later released from the Packers in 2015, and Gray returned home to Alabama. He was the father of two young children, who family members say he adored. He was renovating houses, selling cars and working as a party promoter.

Many friends and family members took to social media Tuesday morning to mourn his loss. "He was truly a gentle giant with a big heart,'' one family member wrote on Facebook. "He will truly be missed. Gone too soon. #stoptheviolence."

Gray is the 57th homicide victim in all of Jefferson County for 2018, including 37 in the City of Birmingham.

Christian said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.